The Cell
by MatrixOfWumbo
Summary: Below Castle Darkmount lies a Cell...


/ _From the Desk of Supreme Commander Megatron_ /

 _To Governor Straxus of Greater Polyhex_

 _As you are aware, the incident at Castle Darkmount last Orbital Phase has left it without a Commander. Lord Megatron is using this opportunity to merge the military and legislative branches of all Decepticon territories. You have been placed in charge of Polyhex Province. Congratulations, Lord Commander. Report to Darkmount with whomever of your current staff you would bring. The castle will be garrisoned when you arrive. Please be aware of the responsibilities this office comes with. Defender of Darkmount, overseer of Polyhex, and - most chiefly - warden of the cell beneath the castle. The Supreme Commander considers the prisoner an extreme threat to his regime._

 _\- Sixshot of Kaon, Assistant Clerk of Municipal Records_

/The Personal Log of Straxus of Greater Polyhex/  
~Cycle 083.03.010~

Cruelock, Crosscut and I arrived at Castle Darkmount early in the morning. Our guide was unwilling to provide transportation after sundown (the locals became quite hysterical whenever we told them where we were headed), but by fortune we were met in the middle of the night by a transport from the castle who was out looking for us.

The head of the staff at Castle Darkmount is a short but hearty bot named Cogman. He has an agreeably dry wit about him. He alone seems to be immune to the atmosphere of terror about this place. All of the staff move quickly and quietly with their heads down, and when I stop to ask something they quiver and wring their hands much like the villagers of the previous day. The monstrousness of the one they served was clearly not lost on them, and his spectre still hangs over the compound.

My day was spent primarily acquainting myself with the grounds. Darkmount sits on a broad plateau in the far East of Polyhex. The main feature is a central tower that dominates the whole landscape. Even back in the hamelt we stayed at nights ago we could see it peer down from across the landscape, which was extremely flat and undeveloped in this region. At night one can see Greater Polyhex's glow in the West, and I felt a pang of sadness to be so far from my home. To the East the Rust Sea glints in the morning sun.

Polyhex is a key strategic point in the Decepticon plan. A bulwark against the Autobot-dominated North, I am taking on a great deal of military responsibility. But that, I fear, will be the easiest of my responsibilities. After a glass of Engex to calm my nerves, I will descend down to the cell, and to my hardest; the dark secret underneath of Castle Darkmount.

 _/Transcript from_ Revolution Nightly _, Cycle 083.02.104/_

 _Hello and welcome to_ Revolution Nightly _, Decepticons' #1 source for news 52 stellar cycles running. I'm Broadcast, Nimbus is out sick. Our top story tonight, some shocking news out of Polyhex. A search for missing civilians has lead to a grisly string of murders and an explosive scandal in the province's highest level of government. Fair warning, viewer discretion is advised._

/The Personal Log of Straxus of Greater Polyhex/  
~Cycle 083.03.010~

Well, I've done it. And it was strangely not as unpleasant as I had feared, though unsettling in an entirely different way.

It was an old cell, from back before such things were made of glass and force fields. But it was strong. The walls were solid, unrefined metal, thick as one's forearm. The door had a small shuttered peephole, with 3 bars of Densinium running vertically through it. There were no windows.

I had the guards open the shutter. He was chained by one arm and one leg to either end of the floor. The only light in the room came from that peephole, and from his eyes. They glowed with a light that could bring no comfort. Flat but reflective, like twin mirrors in the gloom.

"Ah, here he is at last," he said. His voice was low and rumbled with an older accent. "Tell me dear Straxus, how are you enjoying your stay in my country?"

I hadn't questioned until this writing how he knew my name.

"You have it backwards my deranged friend. As of today, Darkmount and all of Polyhex's military industry belong to me."

"My, my. Then congratulations are in order! Well done old boy!"

He stood to approach me as if to shake my hand, only to be stopped short by the chains. It was close enough, however, to bring his terrible form into the light.

I admit I shuddered, though I'm not sure what I expected. Local authorities had caught on to a string of missing persons in the area surrounding the castle, and when they finally were able to get one of the manic witnesses to give testimony, he pointed to the Commander of the Province. They were not prepared for what they found, of course. Who would be? Cloning the Emperor of Destruction topped a list of crimes no one had ever thought possible to commit. In secret he had been targeting bots who had certain physical qualities. Their suitable body parts were excised and grafted together to make a macabre sculpture of our leader. A sculpture that now started right at me. Clearly his work had been unfinished, for much of his body bore no resemblance to Megatron. But you could see it. In the cheekbones, an ankle here, an eyebrow there, in very subtle ways he was transforming his body into that of the Supreme Commander. To what end we will thankfully never find out.

"I'm sorry I can't give you a proper tour, he said gesturing to his shackles. "High Command wasn't exactly accommodating."

"What else were we going to do with you? We certainly couldn't have you running around anymore."

"Because of my genius?"

"Because of your crimes! You have broken countless Decepticon laws!"

"Some things are made to be broken," he said solemnly.

"How many of our people did you kill to build your abomination?"

He turned from me at that word, 'abomination,' and said "I suspected that was what you came here to find out."

I frowned. "Yes, regrettably we will be spending much time together these next few weeks while we finish mopping up after you. But I see this going nowhere, so now that I've formally met you, I shall take my leave."

"Disappointing," he said. "Have the servants fix you one of the guest rooms on the side facing the Rust Sea. Breathtaking sunrises."

"A guest room? I am the master of Castle Darkmount, and I will sleep in the master recharge suite."

"Very well then 'master,'" he bowed coldly. "I don't think you'll quite find it to your tastes however."

I beheld my first sunset from Darkmount when I ascended from that dungeon. Where had the time gone? I needed to do a few more things before bed yet. Farewell for now, my diary.

/  
Damnit, he was right.

I let my pride get the better of me and insisted the servants prepare the master suite. But the place is ghastly. Tapestries, perhaps once opulent, now hung dark and drab over the windows. Quintesson Death Masks adorned the ceiling molding and either of the walls. Horrid, thick bedposts cornered the recharge slab, but the slab itself was inviting enough. The servants seemed to have made sure they made it at least partially homey. Tomorrow I still have much to do, so I shall close this journal entry.

/  
~Cycle 03.011~

The Engex must not have sat well with me, for I had the strangest dream last night. A dream might not be the most accurate descriptor, for nothing actually occurred in it. It was dark, and still, and silent. I could scarcely tell when I was asleep and when I was in the dream.

As Darkmount had surmised, one of my immediate duties as Lord Commander was to close the investigation of this cloning business. Namely, where and how he had disposed of the bodies, and how many murders there actually were. Doctors from Kaon had identified parts of at least 12 different fuselages, but the unfinished nature of the project drew doubt upon that figure. Darkmount had also refused to disclose the location of his lab within the castle, and with Shockwave's brain-mining device still in its infant stages interrogation had to happen the old-fashioned way. So after morning ablutions I ventured down, now with a bit more courage, to see the prisoner.

/  
Ultimately pointless.

This creature does nothing but stare at me and dodge questions. He keeps asking about the master suite I chose to sleep in too. Rather irksome.

"There's nothing you can do Darkmount. Nowhere you can go. So you might as well tell me where your lab is."

"I'm afraid only the master of this place knows where to find the laboratory. And since that's _you_ now, I'm not of any use."

"You daft cretin! You were the master before me! How could I possibly know where it is when I wasn't here?"

"You are a smart one. I'm sure you'll work it out. I would be disappointed if you didn't."

I have asked the servants for any information they might have.

"No no, good master. No one went with him into the lab. Terrible things happened there. Terrible things."

Cogman once again was much more helpful. "The old master was very private. We kept the rooms in order, and he very rarely left his chambers, that they could tell."

He usually only came down to entertain the guests that turned out to be his victims.

"I know that all he wanted to do was leave this place. He considered the castle his own personal curse."

Ah yes, the other complication in the case. The Autobots call it "binary bonding." Darkmount was tethered to the structure for which he was named. He couldn't even be removed to face justice in Kaon without going into convulsions. That was the whole reason for keeping him in the cell to begin with. Previous examples of Megatron just killing the binary bonded subject made using the facilities much more difficult. So he would have to remain my guest. This is an interesting development, but one that gets me no closer to the lab.

/  
~Cycle 03.012~

It seems that the change of residence has had a few peculiar effects on me. For one thing, I have evidently taken up sleep walking. While I dream my peculiar voidlike dream, my body roams the hall outside my chambers. I know this because Cogman saw fit to alert me of it in the morning. I'm not terribly alarmed by it though. This new position comes with a myriad responsibilities that undoubtedly weigh on me in ways even I haven't felt yet.

/  
~Cycle 03.014~

Aha! Success! And after so short a time too! The laboratory was quite literally just in front of my nose. One of those garish Quintesson faces in the master suite held a switch to a secret door. I'm certain it leads to the lab. Will report back this afternoon.

/  
Oh my. I think I know what became of Darkmount's victims now. At the bottom of the stairs I found were the typical scientific instruments, as well as a most peculiar liquid. It looks like a combination of Energon and metal, and it appears to be searing hot. An array of chains and shackles hangs from the ceiling over the pool. As a test, I tossed a Spanner into the pit to observe what happened. Sure enough, the tool melted instantly. It's some sort of... smelting pool. And I would guess that that's where the bodies are. One with the pool now. I could not linger in that place for long. The heat and the haze of that pit of death, the thought of what happened there... I need to lie down.

/  
I confronted the prisoner about the smelting pools. He laughed.

/  
~Cycle 03.016~

To my great agitation, I awoke not in my bed but on the roof of the great spire, the morning light vaulting across the sky in a shocking display of color. I dashed down the stairs in a rather embarrassing state, startling the servants in my apparent mania.

Sleep walking again? If this is something that could endanger me I should address it right away.

/  
The doctors at the fortress are lead by a skittish bot named Scalpel. He looks at all my charts with a frown as though he had just discovered a new and awful disease.

"I see nothink wronk vith you." he says in a thick accent, from Tetrahex I think.

"Why am I suddenly sleepwalking then?"

"Stress. Increased altitude. Lunar phases. It could be any number of zinks. If you vould like, I can request a brain scan. But it vill take some time to get the machinery out here."

"Very well. We will test it out while I sleep once it arrives. You can also look down in the laboratory, to see if he had any such instruments among his collection."

"I vill... put it under consideration. I am sure zere's nothing to fear going down there now. But, in my professional opinion, tomorrow zere will be an even less likely chance."

/  
I have put the issue out of my mind. I can break this habit easily. After all, some things are made to be broken.

Darkmount is very quiet today. His ego seems deflated, I'm pleased to say, since the lab was discovered.

"What do you do in your spare time, Straxus?" He asked me.

"Fun? Well, I am a Polyhex scholar. I am well versed in many sorts of literature. I've recently been studying ancient engineering."

Why was I telling him all this?

"A fellow scientist then? Tell me, what would you do if someone tried to stymie your designs?"

" _My_ designs would never murder my fellow Decepticons, so I suspect I will never find out."

"We could work together, you know. Fulfill your darkest designs. No one would ever have to know. You could just come down here and let me whisper in your ear. Of course, it would be far easier in my lab-"

"Listen you madman. I am the master of Castle Darkmount, and I won't abide by the likes of you causing trouble on my watch. That goes for inside this cell, it certainly goes for outside this cell, an environment you will never again experience, and it will NEVER go on with my aide! Good day to you sir!"

I look forward to the day I won't have to be inside this place of darkness - with this creature of darkness - any longer. Fortunately, with the lab unsealed, that day should be very soon indeed.

/  
I awaken in my bed, and if my mind were clearer I might take some comfort in it, given the events of late. Once again I was plagued by the sleep-borne horrors, but where I was able to find some solace in the waking cycles before, I may never find it again. For I know not whether these visions of the past few nights were dreams after all, and that doubt freezes my fluids to my tubes.

I was back in my void of a dreamscape. A sound of footsteps roused my attention, and I moved to find its source, only to find myself held by chains. I couldn't see them, but I could hear their rattle, feel their pull upon my wrist and leg. Suddenly, a crack of light pierced the darkness, a doorway framing a bot I could recognize by the lights of his eyes.

"You're never going to leave this place," Darkmount said, though the ring of his voice was different. Undercut by something.

"How did you get out you bastard?" I shouted, losing myself in the dream state momentarily.

"You naughty boy. What are we going to do with you? We certainly can't have you running around anymore."

He wasn't listening to me. Only glowering at me from... is this the cell? I'm in his place, his chains are my own. But how?

Then he backed out of the doorway and into the light of the corridor, and something broke loose in my mind. It was me! Or some abomination crawling around in my chassis. The face, the body, even that little twinge in the voice was my own, but instead of my own red eyes the amber globes of the maniac down below peered out to look at me.

"I am the master of Castle Darkmount now, and I won't abide by the likes of you causing trouble on my watch," the creature grinned savagely as it turned away and slammed shut the door of my cell.

I screamed every profanity I knew, banging my head against the floor of the cell. And that trauma did the trick, thrusting me back into the waking world. The sun was still far beneath the horizon, and a chill wind blew through the open window. That brings this log up to the present.

/  
I fear for my safety, my sanity. The scene plays out in my mind on a loop. That voice coming from my mouth, those eyes staring from my face.

That was no amalgamation like his Megatron clone. This was something darker, something of the mind. Something of my mind. It's those eyes! Those deathly lights. They have done something to me.

Tomorrow I will go down there and rip those eyes from him myself. But I must fight the urge to power down for the evening. If sleep overtakes me then so too shall he. Perhaps I should go down tonight and do the deed. Wake up the whole castle and bring him to light. But something in my processor is stopping me. Is it the darkness in that place at night, thicker even than in day despite the lack of windows? Or is it the poison in my head? I must not sleep...

/  
~Cycle 03.017~  
It is done. He will trouble me no longer. Finally, I am free again.

I have to laugh, thinking of the poor wretch down there. He thought he could control me, but I am the commander of Darkmount. I do not yield to his kind.

The doctors are under orders to remove the prisoner's eyes. Whatever strange outlier powers they possess, that one will not be using them.

This diary, I think I shall destroy it. No one will believe these ramblings, and if anyone does, it would only cause trouble. Still, it is an intriguing account. It may be entertaining to relive it from time to time. He came so close to undoing me. It really is quite something.

Cogman, he sees what has transpired. The other servants are no more or less flighty than they were yesterday, but _he_ , _he_ looks at me in just such a way. I will have to keep an eye on him.

/  
Perhaps I was wrong, this log is actually quite therapeutic. I spent the afternoon frolicking outside, so to speak, in celebration of my liberation from that miscreant and that damned cell.

I sit now peering down at the smelting pool, thumbing through the files from my desk. He was a naughty one, the last tenant. Dabbled in engineering. It's all very crudely done, but there's a lot of potential in these designs with my fine tuning. This... _crucible_. Yes, something about that seems especially delicious. But we'll need to expand the grounds a touch. More smelting pools, many more need to be readied. I have a great many plans for Polyhex, and for all of Cybertron. I need only to begin amassing my resources.

 _Some time later, Straxus (that would take some getting used to) looked out over the grounds from the spire of Castle Darkmount. Locals from the surrounding villages had been drafted to build the new smelting pools, and to extend the fortress walls. This was his domain, but now that he could leave freely, he had his sights set on much larger environs..._

 _And down below, keenly aware of the emptiness where his eyes and mouth ought to be, lay the prisoner known as Darkmount. In the darkness of the cell he sat, tapping away at the rough-hewn floor, a ceaseless rhythm. If anyone cared to listen, they might decipher the code he tapped incessantly, every hour of every solar cycle._

 _Straxus is Darkmount... is Straxus is Darkmount... is Straxus is Darkmount..._

 **THE CELL**


End file.
